4 Police Constables In Andhra Pradesh Attack Soldier Over App Download, Suspended

Four police constables in the Anakapalli district were suspended for attacking a soldier, the Andhra Pradesh Police Department said on Thursday.

The constables had roughed up Syed Alimullah, a soldier from the Army's 52nd Battalion of the Rashtriya Rifles on Tuesday morning within Parawada police station limits.

When Alimullah was waiting to take a bus to his native village, two constables - Sobha and Naidu- approached him and sought help to download the Disha app. As he downloaded the app, the two wrote down the one-time password needed to install the app, prompting the soldier to question why they wrote it down and asked them about their identity.

The constables were not happy with the soldier and asked him to come to the police station to verify their identity cards and allegedly tried to force him into a three-wheeler and were joined by two colleagues, leading to a skirmish.

People in the locality caught the incident on mobile phones and subsequently, videos went viral on social media. Also, it was brought to the notice of the state Director General of Police K V Rajendranath Reddy.

The four constables Devallu, B Sobha, M Muthyala Naidu and P Ramesh- were later suspended on the orders of the DGP.

"The DGP issued orders for the immediate suspension of the four Parawada constables for behaving rudely and attacking a soldier over Disha app download at Santhabayalu," according to a press release from the DGP's office.

Mr Reddy was quoted as saying that the police should protect people and not attack them and termed such attacks as unforgivable.

He warned police personnel that resorting to this kind of high-handed behaviour would be dealt with sternly.

Anakapalli police Superintendent K V Murali Krishna told news agency PTI that the four police personnel were initially sent to the armed reserve and then suspended.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)